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What mobile payment technology trends are on the horizon?

If you've bought a cup of coffee or purchased everyday household items recently, there's a good chance you've seen a fellow shopper pay with a simple tap of their smartphone. While more people adopt these mobile wallet apps, the technology still isn't omnipresent. Not every mom-and-pop store has a point of sale system that can accept Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay just yet. However, more smaller businesses could get on the bandwagon as technology developers find a way to streamline the software so it easily integrates with POS solutions, Forbes noted. And that push is on. So what's next for mobile payment technology? Here are a few trends on the horizon:

Growth in peer-to-peer payments

The rise of mobile payment technology hinges on its convenience. Therefore, cash transactions could decrease not only between merchants and customers but also among people as P2P apps take off in popularity, TotalRetail reported. Apps like Chase QuickPay and Venmo enable users to send money back and forth in real time and could possibly put an end to IOUs.

Increase in loyalty programs

More companies could integrate rewards or loyalty programs into mobile payments, Entrepreneur suggested. Adding automatic rewards is a great way to retain customers and thank them for their patronage. Not only will checkout lines move faster if shoppers quickly scan their phones to make a payment, businesses may also help keep them coming back. Integrating consumer engagement into payment technology could be a boon for even more businesses in the coming years. One example of this comes from Walgreens, whose customer loyalty rewards program already is integrated Apple Pay.

Emphasis on security

Expect more mobile payment apps to place a greater emphasis on security to encourage more consumers to use virtual wallets. While the number of people using smartphones to make payments continues to grow, one concern many customers have is just how safe their financial information is. TotalRetail posited more mobile payment services will need to implement tokenization elements into their technology so consumers and merchants can make transactions without sensitive financial data leaking during the exchange. In addition, several are using biometrics to better identify customers right at the point of sale.